Virgin Media O2 has reached a major milestone in the Shared Rural Network programme after upgrading or building 100 company-managed sites, providing residents, businesses and visitors in rural communities with faster and more reliable mobile coverage.
Isle of Skye, the second-largest island in Scotland, became the 100th site to benefit from improved mobile connectivity after Virgin Media O2 used helicopters to deliver and install new 4G masts to the island.
Taking into account the progress of Three, Vodafone and EE, Virgin Media O2’s customers can now benefit from reliable 4G services at 146 rural locations.
The SRN is a £1bn joint initiative between mobile network operators and the UK Government to extend 4G connectivity to 95% of the UK’s landmass by the end of 2025.
Of the 100 rural sites that have been built or upgraded by Virgin Media O2 so far, 78 are in some of the most remote parts of Scotland, including Shetland, Ardross, and Argyll & Bute, while 19 are in rural parts of England, including parts of Yorkshire, Suffolk and Kent, and three are in Northern Ireland.
The upgrades provide customers with faster and more reliable mobile data and higher quality voice calls, transforming coverage in areas with previously patchy or slow services.
Jeanie York, Chief Technology Officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “We’re going to extreme lengths connecting the most remote corners of the UK to deliver our share of the Shared Rural Network.
“This investment is vital to ensure we provide fast and reliable coverage to all areas of the UK. With so much of our modern life taking place online, rural communities deserve the same standard of mobile connectivity as those in urban areas, and we’re proud to be stepping up and playing our part.
The Shared Rural Network was developed by the UK’s four mobile network operators (Virgin Media O2, EE, Three and Vodafone) and Government, with the aim of improving rural connectivity.
MNOs will invest a total of £532m to eliminate the majority of ‘partial not-spots’ – areas which receive coverage from at least one, but not all, operators. The UK Government will provide a further £500m to build new masts to eliminate ‘total not-spots’ – hard to reach areas where there is currently no coverage at all.
